Tying up some loose ends....

Ok so I've realized that in my last post I left out some important information like am I enlisted or going in as an officer with my degree? Or you know like....where am I going???

So....I am going in as an enlisted soldier, not an officer. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1) For me to get a spot in OCS (officer candidate school) I would have to wait around a year. This was way too long for me

2) Since I am going into the Infantry and I have absolutely ZERO combat experience, I didn't want my inexperience being the reason why someone's Son didn't come home. I don't think I could live with that decision for the rest of my life. The best example that I have is a restaurant. Would you want a GM or Manager that had no restaurant experience coming in and telling you what to do? Or would you prefer a GM or Manager that started out as a busboy and moved their way up?

3) I'm a big believer that in order to do a job to the best of your ability, you need to understand all the components/knowledge of what you do. So starting off low and moving my way up I think is the best way.

Since I have a college degree I am going in as an Enlisted E-4(pay grade). My rank will be Specialist, which puts me one promotion away from Sergeant and being a NCO (non-commissioned officer).

So where am I going?

Ft. Benning, Georgia for 14 weeks. 9 weeks of Basic and then about 5 weeks of AIT (advanced individual training). Normally you go to Basic and then move on to another base where you do AIT which ranges in duration based upon your job. At Ft. Benning they combine my Basic and AIT into OSUT (one station unit training). I think a couple weeks before graduation or that week leading up, I will be told where I will be stationed. I'm not going to graduate and then have them ship me out to Iraq or Afghanistan. I will at least be stationed at another base where I will conduct more training before I'm sent overseas.

If I've done the math right and nothing happens to me(sick/injured/knock on wood please) I should graduate around September 24th. This is just a rough estimate though.

I will get my address within the first 2 weeks of Basic. So if you're wondering what's going on, it may be a little before you hear from me.

Here's a list of what you can send

-Letters(and send lots of them)
-Cards
-Pictures(I need to double-check this)

Here's a list of what NOT to send
-Care packages of any sort. No cookies/brownies/etc.

The Army has a motto that goes something like this...."If we wanted you to have it, we would have issued it to you."

However, care packages CAN be sent once I am DONE with Basic Training.

Hope this cleared some things up. If you have any more questions, just ask

7 Days....Time to Reflect

Alright, well this should be one of just a few posts that I actually make. The rest will be up to Mom to post on here everything that I write home while I'm away. With that being said, I figured I start out this blog with some reflections of the past weekend and of what the future holds.

Just a heads up....This will be pretty long...

First off I just want to thank EVERYONE who was able to make it to the MITCH MARTIN FREEDOM FESTIVAL this past weekend. Having almost all the old college friends in town and hanging out for the first time in what seems like forever will always be a cherished memory. I'm truly blessed to have friends who came in from such places (Nebraska, Iowa, Chicago, Indiana, Kansas City) to celebrate the weekend and me(which just seems weird) but it truly was an amazing weekend!!

What kind of person would I be if I also didn't thank my family??? The support and well-wishes is just typical of my family. Although a few couldn't make it (you obviously missed one hell of time) I know that you wished you could have been there. I did manage to snag a few gifts from you and just have to give a shout out to Aunt Molly for the prayer card. I couldn't believe it at first when I saw the one you gave me, then I saw the entire stack of them.... The amount of time and effort that you put forth to make those for me...well....lets just say I never expected anything like that and that I am so grateful for those. It's nice to know that somewhere, at sometime, someone will have that card and will be praying for me. Lord knows I'll need that over the next 15 weeks!!

Also, to my Mom. Best one in the world if you ask me! Who without all of her help and effort, the party would have never have happened. Plus, she held herself together pretty well if you ask me, and that is no easy task especially knowing what I'm about to embark upon. I love you! I'll also have more to say to you, but not on here.

To Dad, well what can I say really?? You've have always been supportive of my decisions as long as I've had an answer for why. The amount of help you have given me over this entire process was instrumental in my ability to pick the right path. You have always been a voice of reason, common sense, and corny jokes (all of you now know where that comes from haha) But overall, the way you support your family and how you conduct yourself on a personal level sets a high bar and one I hope I can reach someday or come close to.

To the rest of the immediate family...I know it wasn't easy for all of you to make it, but you did. The effort that all of you made to be there to support me is just one of the reasons I love you all.

Okay....so with all the lovey-duvy out of the way, I will move on to the more pressing issues.

I leave for Basic Training in exactly 1 week. And what could I have possibly done to screw myself already??? Oh you know...injure myself moving a pool table. Seriously!?!?!? 1 week before I leave and I strain my back moving a F'in pool table!!! Sign from God? Who knows....but I feel like a dumbass. It's not as bad as it was yesterday, but I still had to push back my PT Test (physical training) with my recruiter from Wednesday to TBA depending on how fast it heals. At least I can breath comfortably today....unbelievable.....

With that being said, I can't believe I leave in 1 week! It's crazy to think that just about 3 months ago I made this pledge and I am just this close to living it. Ever since I was a senior in high school I thought about possibly joining some branch of the military. I even went as far as taking the ASVAB (basically the ACT/SAT for the military). However, I decided that college and the University of Missouri was a better idea at the time and never looked back. Personally, I don't think there is any way in hell I would have been able to handle the commitment they ask of you when I was 18. It took a 6 year detour, but here I am back to square one. I like to think I took the scenic route.

So with all this coming up, some of you may still wonder why now? What's next? Why the infantry? How long?

Well a lot of this decision making came after graduation. When I was thinking about my degree and if I really enjoy what I was doing, I realized that A) it didn't make me all that happy B) I didn't feel like it meant that much to me C) I didn't see how I was making a difference. I guess this was all the post-graduation questions having not been able to find a full-time job 8 months after graduating.

Since I was a little kid I had always love police officers. Blame it all on Erik Estrada and the Awesomeness that was CHIPs. Either way, when it came down to college choices, I couldn't pull the trigger (no pun intended). So after looking for jobs, I made the decision that hey I'm young and if there's going to be a change, might as well make it now. So I moved home to apply for law enforcement jobs.

Little did I know at the time, but it's amazing how the economy can really screw with you. I mean seriously, when you're in college you can read about it all on the news and it doesn't really effect you. In some ways it does, maybe through your family in some way, but on an individual level, you naive to the curses of the Bear market (see, those econ. classes do pay off). In college you still have that sense that you are invincible. Well ladies and gentlemen...God has a sense of humor that smacks you right upside the head the moment you graduate and then move home.

So I applied for a law enforcement job. While doing some temp work, I read an article in the newspaper at lunch that discussed how the number of applications law enforcement agencies across the city have seen a large influx. Literally to the point where there are hundreds of applications for extremely limited spots. Basically, I realized that I had about a 5% chance of being hired. I read this article about a month after I turned in my application. FML. So what was the best way to distinguish myself for a future in law enforcement??? That's right, the military!!

So I go and talk to an Army recruiter after doing research and rooting out the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard(no offense Ben...) I weeded out the Marines after talking with the Army and never visited with them. The Army could guarantee me a job as long as I was qualified for it. So I go through the process and get everything turned in. Head down to MEPS(the day long physical) and come back with a list of jobs which varied in availability. They ranged from artillery, truck driver, PATRIOT system, telecommunications, construction, and a few others. I sat down and researched every job and eliminated them based on my personal characteristics and with the knowledge of what I wanted for my future. I also went over them with Mom and Dad. Mom said "no" to all of them and Dad said it was up to me but to remember that "this is a shooting war."

I came to the decision of Infantry for a few reasons.

1. It would provide me the best training to stay alive. Non-combat MOS(mos=your job) are being engaged in battles just as the infantry, but they really only have the basic skills and no advanced training like the infantry does. Plus the Army has been taking the non-combat MOS and basically using them as infantry either way. Truck drivers are becoming turret gunners, etc.

2. It would teach me extremely useful skills sets to have as a law enforcement officer

3. For me, there is just a sense of pride and honor involved with the infantry. Infantry soldiers define history. They bear the brunt for the greater good. Maybe it doesn't explain it all, and it's not meant to offend anyone, it's just what I think.

So I made the decision, signed my contract, and started getting back into shape.

-----------------------

So how do I feel about all of this with only a week to go? Well, I'm.....nervous, excited, restless, anxious, confident, scared of the unknown, and proud.

Many of you know that I have supported what our military is doing since day 1. I remember exactly where I was sitting and what I was doing when I heard about 9/11 as I'm sure many of you do to. I guess a part of me has always felt the need to be a part of something greater and this is my opportunity. What happened that day should never happen again. We as a country should not have to live in fear on a daily basis or be concerned that terrorists want to kill us on our soil. They fight like cowards hiding behind women, children, their mosques, and blow themselves up in the name of their "God" who will reward them for their murder with virgins in heaven. Their extreme ideology is a threat not only to the US but to the world itself as we have seen in the UK, Spain, Somalia, Yemen, Philippines and many others places around the world. They wish to spread their evil across this Earth and I'll be damned if I let that happen. We have seen what happens when the world takes a back seat to tyrants, dictators, and terrorists before and for once we've finally learned that we cannot allow it to continue.

And so we fight. We will fight long and hard until the job is done and we can bring our troops home, and I hope to be a part of this.